Free Mistaken Identity by Diane Fanning Page A

bet it did. “What did you know about the family?”
    “They seemed normal enough – a little smarter than most of us, I suppose, but they didn’t flaunt it. They acted like just folks whenever we had a block party or something like that. That little Freddy seemed like he had to prove he was smarter than everybody all the time. But that grandmother of his – now she’s a real nutcase.”
    “In what way, Ms. Littlejohn?”
    “Oh, you can call me Cynthia,” she said and waited for acknowledgement.
    “Yes, Cynthia, of course. Now, Freddy’s grandmother?”
    “Well, I heard she’s been married a dozen times. And now I hear she’s got this young boyfriend. And she’s always talking about crystals and how they can bring harmony and cure illness and all sorts of stuff. Now, if she just read palms or tea leaves or something, she’d be entertaining. But it’s like she’s on a mission with those stupid crystals.”
    Maybe this woman did have a little bit of sense, after all . “Cynthia, did you notice anything unusual yesterday morning?”
    “Like what?”
    “Anything you heard or saw, or anyone that looked out of place?”
    “No.” She shook her head. “Can’t say that I did.”
    “Tell me what you did see yesterday morning,” Lucinda urged.
    “Let’s see. I saw Freddy getting picked up in front of the house by this woman whose son goes to that summer class with Freddy …”
    “Do you know her name?”
    “No, but I recognize her car – it’s a green Lexus, a fairly new one.”
    “Then what did you see, Cynthia?”
    “Nothing really. I didn’t see Parker leave. I didn’t see Jeanine leave. But I don’t always see that. So, what did they do? Skip town with a barrel full of someone else’s money?”
    “No, Cynthia. I don’t think either of them went anywhere.”
    “What do you mean? They’re still in there? Are you holding them under house arrest?”
    “No. They are not still there. Two bodies were removed from the home and taken to the morgue.”
    “The morgue? Two bodies? Which two? Not Freddy, oh please, not Freddy. He is a bit obnoxious. But he’s just a boy. I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean …” Tears welled up in Cynthia’s eyes.
    “Freddy’s fine. He’s with his grandmother. Did you see anyone approach their home yesterday morning or the night before? Did you notice anyone? Or any vehicle at the house?”
    “No. No. Can’t say that I did,” Cynthia said, furrowing her brow. “But I did hear something.”
    “What was that? When was that?”
    “I don’t know what time it was exactly. Mid morning sometime. I stepped out into the backyard and thought I heard a chainsaw. I’m pretty sure it was a chainsaw. We hear them a lot around here after bad storms – cleaning up branches and stuff. But this time, it sounded like it was coming from inside of a house. But why would that be? And I listened for a while but it stopped before I could figure out where it came from.”
    “Please, think, Cynthia. When did you hear that? What were you doing before you came outside?”
    “Oh, my, so this might be important. Why would this be important? Oh, my, don’t tell me they were killed with a chainsaw?”
    “Cynthia, please. Concentrate. What time?”
    “Oh dear,” she said biting her lower lip. “Oh, I know. I just finished watching that show. It must’ve been just after ten in the morning.”
    “Ten? Are you sure?”
    “Yeah,” she said with a vigorous nod.
    “Before that, you were watching television?”
    “Yes.”
    “You didn’t hear anything that sounded like gunshots?”
    “Gunshots? Oh, my, no. Gunshots? They were shot? So why was there a chainsaw? Oh, my, they didn’t cut them up, did they?”
    “Cynthia, tell me – aside from Jeanine, Parker and Freddy – who was the last person you saw visiting the home?”
    “It had to be that crazy grandmother. But that wasn’t yesterday. It was three days ago. And she didn’t go inside the house. Jeanine came